5K Champs again! Great People, Great Day!

Whew. What a day! The LA Cancer Challenge was last Sunday and it was a great day. In fact, I was thinking about it, and Sunday was probably one of my favorite days in a long, long time.

Thank you all so much!

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who came out and ran and donated so much time, energy, and money to a very worthy cause (ok, I may be a little biased). Thank you to those of you who showed their support from afar (You rock Aunt Zel, Breakfast buddies Ray and Bob, Uncle Bob, and Aunt Gloria, and the many others who gave but could not join us for the race).

All of your generosity was truly touching, especially with everything that has been going on financially over the last year. If you ever need any rationalizations, I have plenty so try this one on for size...with stocks being incredibly volatile, bonds likely to lose value if interest rates ever go up, housing being, well, housing, and T-bills yielding close to 0%, cancer research may be the best investment you could ever make. Think about it, regardless of how much or little you give today, there is a one in three chance you will get some form of cancer during your lifetime. I know that I would pay pretty much any amount for a cure for my cancer. Hopefully you never have to face a cancer diagnosis, but if you do, hope that it happens later rather than sooner. By that time, your dollars donated today may have contributed to a cure, which you will probably be able to afford (Go public option!). So your donation today would have matured into a treatment that could have infinite value to you. Hmmm, infinite, now that is a good return.

Threepeat!! We continued our streak and won our third 5K team title in a row. Props go out to Ross C.(for finally figuring out how to get onto team Tyler and taking 2nd place overall), to Daniel D. (always a powerful presence on the course), to Shannon R. (for being the first woman and 5th overall, getting Nike to provide some awesome jerseys, and letting all of us couch potatoes bringing up the rear say that we were on the same team as a World’s medalist and Olympian), Nate B. (for taking 9th and bringing out a great group of young runners from the Home of Scholars and Champions), and Andrew G. (for showing us that you can bounce back from something as severe as a collapsed lung in college and still take 10th in what is becoming a fairly competitive 5K, Maybe there is a chance that my body will eventually recover). Honorable mentions go out to Dan S., Mike F., Greg J., Alex G., and Mark C. for all going under 20 minutes and Effort awards go to John C. and Chris C. for representing the OG Choad and just completing the race. I did manage to drag my sorry butt around the course in 1 hour 26 minutes and 1 second (yes, that was for the 5K) and was emotionally broken as the kids fun run started right as I was finishing and a herd of children dominated me in the final 100m. By the time I crossed the finish line, I think they had stopped handing out medals (I forgot to pick up my number anyways) and was a little bummed. Luckily, my wonderful wife saw my disappointed look, gave me her medal, and saved us all from a big kid tantrum amidst the young well-behaved finishers.

The 10K team did great as well. Props to Dad, Becky S., Karen B., Marty L., Eva and Mom, though I think we may need to make some adjustments to be a little more competitive next year. It is really pretty straight forward. I am just going to need each of you to train a bit over the next year, and, if everyone can take, say 11 minutes, off their time, we should be in contention to win the 10K team title as well. You might want to start training now.

All in all, the race was a great opportunity to catch up with a lot of different people and I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with so many of you. I am trying to de-hermitize myself a bit and hope to see as many of you as I can before next year. Txts are probably the best way to reach me and please, be persistent. I often go days without checking my email or voicemail. Sometimes just getting to the couch is all I can manage. Other days I am pretty much unstoppable (or at least I think I am).

After the race, the contingent of x-Cal runners and associates went over to Ross’ parent’s house for lunch. They have a wonderfully pleasant backyard where we continued to tell old stories and new ones over crepes. Thank you for hosting a great little get together.

As if all that activity was not enough, Eva and I had tickets to a live taping of one of my favorite radio shows that evening- NPR’s Left, Right, and Center. There was a cocktail hour and then Robert Sheer, Matt Miller, Ariana Huffington, and Tony Blankley took the stage and did a special 45 minute show in front of a live audience. The “stars” mingled during the cocktail hour and a bit after the show where Eva and I actually got to meet Matt Miller. I usually do not go ga-ga over famous people but, as a testament to my nerdiness, I was a bit start-struck by Mr. Miller. He has laid out a very logical progressive agenda on which I agree with many of his ideas. I managed to utter that I had read his two books and he replied that I was amongst a select few. Then Eva mentioned that the Swiss model (which he often touts as a possible model for American health care reform) is still very expensive and might not be the answer we are looking for and he thought about it a minute and mentioned that he liked Tony’s comment during the show that the Swiss model works in Switzerland because its run and used by the Swiss. We got a quick picture and then left and I was just on cloud nine. What a day. So many wonderful people and moments that I will treasure for a very long time.

Exhausted, we made our way home, got a bit of food, and I slept for the next 17 hours, woke up, dialyzed, then went to bed again. On Wednesday, I started to feel sort of ok. Sunday certainly took a toll but was totally worth it.

Take Care and Carpe Vitam,
Tyler


Here is Team Tyler at the start. Or rather, the walking contingent of Team Tyler. Full of energy and ready to go.


Here we are a little later in the race. A bit less energy but we are still going. I kept telling myself, "Right foot, left foot, Repeat"


The Poly boys and girls that came out to the race. You know, next to the petite Shannon, my arms don't look quite so thin. Too bad she could probably dominate me in an arm wrestling competition.


Nate and Becky and me. Nate and I ran together during my glory days and Becky is his lovely wife. He now coaches the Poly girls XC team (he is the new Joe Carlson).


Eva and I with Matt Miller. If you are looking for a couple good reads, check out The 2% Solution or The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. Progressive ideas laid out in ways that both liberals and conservatives should love.